Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; 8 day fast

Hey, Rita:

There are many ways to deal with this, and I have emailed some to Charlie (via Gilly). The best way would be to re-initiate the fast for about four days and then having prepared some foods in advance eat stuff that does not contain any sugar (including fructose) at first: Vegetable juices (V8 is Ok now), spinach, okra, eggs (whole would be Ok, also), tofu, tuna, salmon, etc. Then a meal with some nuts and take some yoghurt (Brown Cow is the best, but no more than 2oz at a time). Plenty of EFAs esp vitE and next day some wheatgrass juice to take down any flare.

The problem is that fasting removes the mucosa, so it needs to be replaced and yoghurt does this faster than anything else, but it can be a two-edged sword.

After about one week of fasting, it is not good to take any sugars at all on the breakfast day, but a little lactose in the yoghurt may not be too bad. We are in a situation where we need to heal the tract and that requires supplements and the right foods, but some of these are borderline for AS symptoms. There are MANY other things to help out, but healing the lesions can take 90 days and more even under the best conditions. Fasting is a good start. Once, however, I even got diverticulitis after a 10 day fast, and was so discouraged because I could not resume eating for another five days! Frustrating to say the least...

Best to You,
John

John, thank you so much for the explanation! I really appreciate it---this AS is so complicated!

Although I no longer look to the Docs to tell me what to do, I still find that I have the habit of looking for someone [you right now!] to tell me 'exactly what to do'. I realize this isn't fair, especially for you, but I always take your advice right to heart. And until I learn how to do things for myself, through trial and error, it is very heartening to know that I can rely on you and the other veterans of KickAs.

I had such high hopes for Charlie's 8 day fast, that I was disappointed in the results. Although, Charlie did prove [to me and hopefully to himself] that the fasting does work as he was able to achieve some relatively pain free time. So I do consider the fast a success, just the 'landing' needs to be tweaked a little! I am sure Charlie will be able to find the right 'landing' that works for him!

Thank you again,
Rita

Ah Charlie...my heart goes out to you. This is sooo frustrating. Your post hit home because I'm really in a slump right now too. Nothing seems to be helping me, and I'm at the point where I'm not really eating anything anymore. But I know I can't go forever living on water and juice. And I'm on prednisone as my enbrel is slowing wearing off....I thought if I went super strict NSD, I could "beat this" and just eventually let the enbrel wear off and be fine. But all I seem to be doing is dropping weight like mad and getting so tired. I'm tired of being a pain martyr and I'm tired of starving and I'm tired of drugs. But I'm under control with prednisone for the moment, so for the moment, I'm ok. And I'm so busy with so much else in my life right now - being busy is my best medicine right now.
Please hang in there. Hang in there with me. lol

Hi I would be very careful eating fish esp tuna. Whether I am right or not I do not know. i.e. Mercury and toxins are the cause of disruption in the gut flora leading to things like AS. I have been following various methods for 2 yrs. But within 4 weeks of chelation mercury I noticed big changes in myself. I have had tests and seen mercury levels slowly drop and so have my symptoms. Now I eat lots more with no flare at all, rice, all squashes, avocado's just not going to mad at the moment.

Sorry for the situation you are in right now.
I have many 3 day apple fasting experiences. Most of the time they are helping. Only one or two times i wan't feeling better but worse. I never get to know why. I hope you can find something that work for you now. Hang in there.

Charlie

Hi Megan:

Just want to let you know when i started doing NO starch diet my weight also dropped very fast. Lost 7 kilos in the first three months of the diet(I was thin to start with,so 7 kilos are a lot). But 3 mothsn later, my weight stabalize till now. So maybe you don't have to worry about your weight dropping forever. Strangely, when i went strict NSD, I found my enevery level very good, nothing like pre-diet when i felt sleepy all the time . I also took prenisone before the NSD kicked in but now i don't have to. Hope you can head out of the slump as soon as you can.

Charlie

Hi All.

Writing for Charlie, but wanted to say a massive warm thank you to you all for kind words and advice, really quite blown away by this site at the moment. Charlie is still in flare, in pain, but on reading the information and wishes here and sent by others on PM he is encouraged to soldier on.

All the words here pushed us out of a big deep hole, and there is a wee glimer of hope at the end of this tunnel.

He discovered some starch in some supplements, and with hindsight may have broken the fast with too much sugar in fruits, who knows... but he's going keep trying, and get back on a short 'quick fix' fast tomorow.

Thank you so so much. You wont know how much kind words can heal. Charlie will report in with a success soon...

Till then,

Love and sunshine,

Gilly

wind_rider,

isn't tinned tuna supposed to be "clean"?
I thought it was just the tuna inside.

Hi!

Sometimes the tuna is packed in vegetable broths, etc. However, in Canada, it is listed on the label.

Rita

The labels on canned tuna here will say "vegetable broth" and then also say "contains soy."
Soy is not a vegetable. It's a legume (bean). By vegetable they also might mean potato. I'd love to know just what the other ingredients are in this "vegetable broth", as I trust my physical reactions to some canned tuna have not been imaginary. Anytime a product is not specifically labeled "non gluten" the flavorings in it might contain wheat or barley byproducts.

I can eat rice and/or beans occaisionally with no problem as long as there was no wheat in it. I can even eat sushi if not done with regular soy sauce. I react pretty swiftly to wheat starch in liquid suspension or cooked into a product now it when consumed accidently. I've not had as much of a reaction when eating the tuna that comes in sealed foil pouches. So far, the salmon that comes in pouches seems to be okay.

I love tuna and like to try to eat it once a week, so I may have to resort to buying fancy expensive health food store type tinned tuna or using fresh if we cannot get manufacturers to tighten the label requirements down here in the 'states. I don't care that they put the stuff in there as much as I believe we should KNOW it so we can make informed choices.

(if you are a relative newby reading this, I went extremely strictly NSD in 2002 and started branching out a bit this year to see what I could get away with....it's interesting. Last night I was scarfing the fillings out of tacos for supper. I'm still pretty cautious. )